1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates generally to baseball bats and a method for manufacturing baseball bats, and more particularly, to baseball bats with cores thereof fabricated from wood fibers artificially fused together and a method for manufacturing baseball bats having fiber-fused cores.
2. Prior Art
FIGS. 1A and 1B illustrates a traditional technique for fabricating wood baseball bats. FIG. 1A illustrates a baseball bat blank 100 and FIG. 1B illustrates a sectional view of the blank 100 taken about line 1B-1B in FIG. 1A. The blank 100 includes of a plurality of wood strips 102, each of which is typically about 10 mm thick by 900 mm long. The wood strips 102 are glued together in the same direction (direction A) to form the blank 100, which is typically about 70 mm by 70 mm in cross-section. As shown in FIG. 1B, the strips 102 are typically adhered in a staggered pattern. The blank 100 is then processed to form a finished baseball bat.
According to the existing industry standard, a baseball bat is around 25 mm in diameter at the thinnest part thereof, where the baseball bat is prone to break during use. One reason leading to failure of the baseball bat is that the symmetricalness of the bat relative to the central axis of the bat is not satisfactory and, accordingly, the baseball bat is anisotropic in mechanical performance. Another reason is that the strength of the core section of the bat, which substantially runs through the entire length of the bat, is not satisfactory.
In addition, due to the intense market competition, manufacturers of wood baseball bats are offering warranties against breakage for a predetermined period of time, for example, 30 days. However, the current warranties cannot meet the expectations of the consumers.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a wood baseball bat with improved symmetricalness relative to the central axis and an improved core, which is strong, solid and unified. Accordingly, warranties against breakage for a longer time can be offered to the consumers.